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THE STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL 

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MAKE BELIEVE STORIES 

(Trademark Registered) 


THE STORY OF A 

SAWDUST 

DOLL 

BY 

LAURA LEE HOPE 

Author of “The Story of a Lamb on Wheels,” “The 
Story of a Calico Clown,” “The Bobbsey Twins 
Series,” “The Bunny Brown Series,” “The 
Six Little Bunkers Series,” etc. 


ILLUSTRATED BY 

HARRY L. SMITH 


NEW YORK 

GROSSET & DUNLAP 

PUBLISHERS 


JD - /•TS'/Z 







Copyright, 1920, by 
GROSSET & DUNLAP 























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©CI.A597337 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Fun in Tot Town . . 1 

II. Just Waiting .... 15 

III. The Little Girl ... 27 

IY. In an Automobile . . 37 

V. The Birthday Party . 49 

VI. In the Dog House . . 62 

VII. In the Rag-Bag ... 73 

VIII. In the Junk Shop . . 87 

IX. A Happy Visit .... 97 

X. “Oh, Dear Me!” ... 110 



THE STORY OF A 
SAWDUST DOLL 

CHAPTER I 

FUN IN TOT TOWN 

Tot Town was not a little city off by it- 
self on the shore of some winding river. 
Nor was Toy Town a place up near the 
North Pole, where Santa Claus has his 
workshops for making presents. The Tcy 
Town I am going to tell you about was in 
a big store. To get to it you went up in 
an elevator, and, once you were there, you 
saw the most wonderful and beautiful 
things you ever dreamed of ! There were 
all sorts of toys, drums that beat a rub-a- 
I 


2 STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL 


dub-dub all by themselves, funny clowns 
who banged tinkly brass things together 
when you pushed a spring near their neck- 
ties, and many other fascinating play- 
things. 

Toy Town was a wonderful place ! 

One night, when the elevators had 
stopped sliding up and down, and when 
the doors of the big store were closed, and 
when the lights had been turned low, there 
was a rattling, a clattering, a rustling and 
bustling and a whispering and talking on 
the shelves and counters of Toy Town. 

“Has everybody gone? 9 ’ nsked a Saw- 
dust Doll, as she sat stiffly up near a Bold 
Tin Soldier, whose sword shone faintly in 
the light of one little electric lamp. The 
Sawdust Doll was stiff because she had 
been lying on her back all day. 

“Yes, I think every one has gone," an- 
swered a White Rocking Horse, as he 


3 


FUN IN TOY TOWN 

moved slowly to and fro on the floor, just 
under the toy counter. He was too large 
to be put up on the shelf. Besides, he 
might accidentally have kicked a hole in 
the drum. Mind you! I’m not saying he 
would have done it on purpose, but he 
might have done it by accident. 

“I don’t see any one,” said the Bold Tin 
Soldier, and he waved his sword over his 
head. 

“ Isn’t he just wonderful!” whispered 
the Candy Rabbit to the Calico Clown. “I 
wish I were as brave as he! If any one 
has stayed behind in Toy Town to try to 
watch what we do of ter store hours, I’m 
sure they’ll be glad enough to run away 
when they see the sword of the Tin Sol- 
dier.” 

“Yes, he is a bold chap,” answered the 
Calico Clown, and he felt the least bit jeal- 
ous because the Candy Rabbit thought the 


4 STORY OP A SAWDUST DOLL 


Tin Soldier chap was so fine. “I always 
wanted to be a soldier,” went on the Calico 
Clown, “but when I was small I began 
playing tricks and making jokes, so — look 
what I am!” and he held out his two long 
arms, on the end of each of which was a 
round, shiny piece of brass. These brasses 
were called “cymbals,” and they tinkled 
together with a clanging sound. “No use 
for me to wish to be a soldier,” sighed the 
Calico Clown. “My life is a joke!” 

6 6 1 like you best as you are. Y ou ’r e real 
jolly, I think,” chattered a Monkey on a 
Stick, as he climbed up and then climbed 
down again. “We must have some fun in 
this world, as well as being guarded by Tin 
Soldiers.” 

“That is very true,” remarked a Lamb 
on Wheels, as she rolled over toward the 
White Rocking Horse. ‘ ‘ I love j oily times. 
That’s why I’m always so glad when night 


FUN IN TOY TOWN 


5 


comes and we toys may do as we please/ ’ 

“We may, if there is no one to watch 
us,” said the Sawdust Doll, as she got up 
on her feet, rather stiffly, for, as I have 
said, she had been lying on her back all 
day, and you know how tiresome that is. 
“But we must be very careful not to start 
our fun until every one is away,” went on 
the Sawdust Doll. 

“I’ll take a look,” offered the Bold Tin 
Soldier. 

“I’ll come with you,” said the Calico 
Clown. “ If we find that any boys or girls, 
or their fathers or mothers, have hidden 
themselves away in our Toy Town, to -spy 
on us at our play, I’ll bang my cymbals to- 
gether.” 

“And I’ll shout and wave my sword,” 
went on the Tin Soldier. 

“Surely that ought to scare them away,” 
bleated the Lamb on Wheels. 


6 STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL 


“If it doesn’t, I’ll just gallop toward 
them,” said the White Rocking Horse. 
“That will make them run!” 

So the Bold Tin Soldier and the Cal- 
ico Clown climbed down off the toy coun- 
ter and walked slowly, and a little stiffly, 
over the floor toward the elevators. The 
one light shone dimly, and by its rays they 
could see that no one was in the store — 
not even the watchman. He was down on 
the first floor, near the perfumery coun- 
ter. He loved the smell of perfumery, did 
that watchman. 

“No one is here !” said the Bold Tin Sol- 
dier, as he came marching back with the 
Calico Clown. 

“ Not a soul to watch us ? That ’s fine ! ’ ’ 
shouted the Monkey on a Stick. “Now I’m 
going to have some fun!” and he began to 
run up and down so quickly that the Saw- 
dust Doll cried : 


FUN IN TOY TOWN 


7 


“Oh, please, Monkey! Not so fast, if 
you please ! You make me dizzy !” 

“All right ! I’ll go more slowly,” kind- 
ly offered the Monkey. “But when you ’ve 
had to keep still all day, because so many 
boys and girls are watching you, when 
they’re not picking you up and punching 
you to see what you’re made of — I say 
when you’ve been that way all day, you 
want to go fast when you get the chance.” 

“I suppose so,” agreed the White Rock- 
ing Horse. “I feel like kicking my heels, 
too.” 

“Well, just wait a moment, if you 
please,” put in the Bold Tin Soldier. “I 
want to march some of my men out into 
the middle of the floor and have a little 
parade. After I get them past you, why, 
then you may kick up your heels as much 
as you please.” 

“All right,” whinnied the White Horse. 


8 STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL 


“ March away! I’m glad to do a favor.” 

The Bold Tin Soldier nimbly jumped 
up on the counter, where he had been 
standing all day in a box with his tin sol- 
dier men. He waved his sword over his 
head until it flashed in the gleam of the 
one light like a star on a frosty night, and 
the Sawdust , Doll covered her eyes with 
her hand, because it was so shiny. 

4 ‘Attention, soldiers !” cried the tin cap- 
tain. 

Every one of the tin soldiers in the box 
sprang up straight and stiff and held his 
gun to his shoulder. 

“Forward — march!” cried the captain, 
again waving his sword. 

The tin soldiers stepped into line behind 
him, and, one after another, they followed 
him as he jumped off the counter to the 
floor. Past the White Rocking Horse they 
marched, each one as brave as his captain. 


FUN IN TOY TOWN 


9 


“Now you may kick your heels as high 
as you please, Mr. White Rocking Horse/ ’ 
called the captain. “We are safely out of 
your reach.’ ’ 

“All right!” came the answer. “Here 
I go ! ” And with that the toy horse, which 
was built to make some boy happy, began 
rocking to and fro. 

“If any one wants a ride on my back, 
now’s his chance !” called the White Rock- 
ing Horse. 

“I do!” cried the Sawdust Doll, and 
with the help of the Calico Clown she got 
down off the counter and climbed up and 
sat on the saddle. 

And, for a few moments, all that could 
be heard in Toy Town was the faint sound 
of the marching feet of the tin soldiers, 
the rumble of the Rocking Horse and the 
tinkle of the Calico Clown’s cymbals. 

It was close to midnight now — the time 


10 STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL 1 


when all toys are allowed to do as they 
please, provided no one sees them. No 
one must ever look at, or watch, the toys 
at their play. In fact, no one has ever 
seen them having fun after dark in the 
big stores. 

And the reason for that is this : 

When the toys w T ere given the power of 
coming to life, of talking, moving about, 
having fun, and behaving just as they 
would if they were real folk — when they 
were given this power there was just one 
thing they were told, and that was : 

“No one must ever see you moving 
about !” 

“Oh, no! Of course not!” said all the 
toys. 

And so, from the very beginning, no one 
has ever seen the toys at play. Just the 
very moment the eyes of a boy or a girl, 
or a daddy or a mother, or even an uncle 


FUN IN TOY TOWN 


11 


or an aunt, lights on one of the toys, that 
toy just becomes as still as anything. 

If, by some chance, when you weren’t 
looking a Sawdust Doll should start to 
dance with a Calico Clown, and you should 
turn your eyes toward them, they would 
stop at once, and you’d never know but 
what they had been motionless all their 
lives. 

Because of this no one has ever seen the 
toys at play, and the only reason I am al- 
lowed to tell you what they did is because 
I promised not to look. They told me 
about it afterward — just how it all hap- 
pened — and that’s why I may put it in a 
book. But as for looking myself at the 
toys as they play, or letting any one else 
look — never ! I wouldn ’t dream of it ! 

“Am I going too fast for you?” politely 
asked the White Rocking Horse of the 
Sawdust Doll, as he rode her on his back. 


12 STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL 


“Oh, not at all,” she answered. “I like 
it.” 

“That’s good,” he replied. “Oh, look 
at the Monkey, will you?” he called. 

“Isn’t he funny?” said the Sawdust 
Doll. “Do you know, he’ll make some little 
boy or girl laugh, I’m sure of it!” 

“Yes, he’ll be a nice Christmas toy for 
some one,” answered the Horse. 

“But I would like to stay here among 
my toy friends a little longer,” said the 
Sawdust Doll. 

“Yes, it is nice here,” said the Calico 
Clown, as he softly banged his cymbals. 
“Say, let’s have a little party!” he went 
on. “It is getting close to Christmas now. 
Some of us are sure to be bought and taken 
away. Some of us may never see the 
others again. We ought to celebrate in. 
some way.” 

“That’s what I say!” came from the 


PUN IN TOY TOWN 


13 


Candy Rabbit. “Of course, I’m not so 
likely to go until near Easter time. But 
you never can tell. Let’s have a party, I 
say,” and the Candy Rabbit wiggled his 
ears. 

“A good idea!” bleated the Lamb on 
Wheels. “What shall we do?” 

“We could play tag!” said the Monkey 
on a Stick. 

“You can beat us all at that,” remarked 
the Sawdust Doll. “You jump around so 
I never can tag you.” 

“I’ll go slowly this time,” promised the 
Monkey. “Come on — let’s have a game of 
tag!” 

“Or hide-and-go-seek!” said the Calico 
Clown. “I know a dandy place to hide,” 
he whispered to the Candy Rabbit. 
“There’s a hole in the counter near the 
Jaek-in-the-Box, and he won’t tell where 


we are. 


14 STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL 

“Is there room for me?” asked the 
Candy Rabbit. 

“Plenty,” answered the Calico Clown. 
“Come on!” 

The Sawdust Doll was just getting off 
the White Rocking Horse to join in the 
fun when, all at once, the Candy Rabbit 
cried : 

“Oh, some one is coming! Some one is 
coming! Quiet, everybody ! Don’t move!” 

And as each and every toy stiffened out, 
to look as unlifelike as possible, a scratch- 
ing, squeaking noise was heard all through 
Toy Town. 


CHAPTER II 


JUST WAITING 

“Dear me! What is it? What can it 
be?” whispered the Sawdust Doll to the 
White Rocking Horse. 

“Hush! Quiet! Don’t say a word,” 
the Horse whispered back. “If it’s the 
watchman, or any people coming back af- 
ter something they have forgotten, they 
must never know that we can move about 
and have fun when they aren’t looking.” 

“Oh, no! Of course not!” agreed the 
Sawdust Doll, in a whisper, and then she 
sat very quietly on the back of the Rock- 
ing Horse, for she had no chance, so sud- 
denly had the alarming noise sounded, to 
15 


16 STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL 


get back to her place on the toy counter. 

Pitter and patter, squeak and bang, 
rattle and rustle went the noise that had 
so frightened all the toy friends who were 
just getting ready for a party. 

“What is it?” asked the Lamb on 
Wheels. 

“Is it the watchman?” the Monkey on 
a Stick wanted to know. He had crouched 
down near a toy fire engine, and he was 
wishing he might shower some water on a 
stuffed elephant near by. 

“Or is it some of the shoppers who have 
forgotten some toy they bought during the 
day?” asked the Candy Rabbit. 

And then, all of a sudden, the Sawdust 
Doll, looking down at the floor, cried 
out: 

“Oh, it’s a rat! It’s a great big rat! 
Oh! Oh-e-e-e-e-e!” and she squealed like 
the little Green Pig on the top shelf, only, 


JUST WAITING 


17 


as he was asleep just then, he didn’t do 
any squealing himself. 

“Gracious! I hope he doesn’t nibble 
off one of my ears,” said the Candy Rab- 
bit, and he tried to hide behind the Calico 
Clown, who had managed to get back to 
his place on the counter. 

i ‘ Forward, march ! Take aim ! Charge 
bayonets,” a voice suddenly called 
through the dim darkness of the toy store. 

“Oh, it’s the Bold Tin Soldier!” cried 
the Sawdust Doll. 6 6 Oh, protect us ! Save 
us from the rat!” she begged. 

“Of course I will!” the Tin Soldier an- 
swered. “Where is he? Let me and my 
men get at him!” 

“Here he is ! Right over by the White 
Rocking Horse!” answered the Sawdust 
Doll. 

“Squeak! Squeak!” went the rat. 
1 6 What ’s all the trouble here ? Can ’t a f el- 


18 STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL 


low look for something to eat without hav- 
ing such a fuss made over it ? What ’s the 
matter?” 

“ Matter enough!” exclaimed the Bold 
Tin Soldier, marching up with his tin 
men. “It’s true you are not a boy or a 
girl or a grown person ; so we aren’t afraid 
to have you see us in motion. But you 
must get out of here!” 

“What for?” asked the rat, and he 
looked hungrily at the ears of the Candy 
Rabbit. The rat was very fond of sweet 
things. “Why must I run away?” he 
asked. 

“Because you don’t belong here,” an- 
swered the Tin Soldier. “Your place is 
down in the cellar near the coal bin and 
the furnace. This is the toy department. 
There is nothing to eat here, and we are 
going to have a party.” 

“How can you have a party without 


JUST WAITING 


19 


something to eat?” asked the rat, with a 
cunning look, for these creatures are very- 
sly. 

“It isn’t going to be that kind of party 
at all,” said the Sawdust Doll. She felt 
rather safe up on the back of the White 
Rocking Horse. “We’re just going to 
play tag, and do things like that, ’ 9 she went 
on. 

“And not going to have anything to 
eat ! ’ ’ exclaimed the rat. i ‘ Pooh ! I don ’t 
call that any kind of party at all! I’m 
hungry!” 

‘ ‘ Then you ’d better run away ! ’ 9 said the 
Bold Tin Soldier, and he flashed his sword 
so daringly, and his soldiers pointed their 
tin guns and bayonets so sharply at the 
rat that, after showing his teeth once or 
twice, he switched his tail and ran back to 
the hole by which he had gnawed his way 
into Toy Town. 


20 STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL 


“Well, I’m glad he’s gone,” said the 
Sawdust Doll. 

“So am I,” said the Candy Rabbit. 
“I am sure he wanted to see how I 
tasted.” 

“Well, I don’t know that you can blame 
him,” remarked the Calico Clown. “You 
surely are the sweetest thing here! Ha! 
Ha ! Here we are again, boys and girls !” 
he cried. 

“Oh, what a joke!” exclaimed the Saw- 
dust Doll. 

“That’s it! We must have fun!” 
laughed the Calico Clown. “Here is an- 
other joke ! What kind of toes never wear 
any shoes?” he asked. 

“The idea!” said the Sawdust Doll. 
“There aren’t any kinds of toes but what 
have shoes to cover them. My toes are 
covered with kid shoes, and the Tin Sol- 
dier’s toes are covered with tin shoes, and 


JUST WAITING 21 

the Monkey’s toes are covered with plush, 
and ” 

“I mean pota-toes!” laughed the Calico 
Clown. “Ha! Ha! Ha! Pota-toes never 
wear shoes!” and he doubled up in the 
middle, because he thought his joke was so 
funny. 

“Well, that isn’t such a bad one,” said 
the Rocking Horse. “You must have been 
in a circus, Mr. Clown.” 

“No, not yet, but I want to be,” was the 
answer. “I’m hoping some boy will buy 
me and put me in a sawdust ring. That’s 
where I belong as a Calico Clown. In a 
sawdust ring!” 

And the Calico Clown banged his cym- 
bals together and felt so jolly that he sang 
a little song like this : 

“In a sawdust ring, 

In a sawdust ring, 


22 STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL 


That’s where I belong. 

I’ll crack a joke, 

Some fun I’ll poke, 

And then I ’ll song a sing. ’ ’ 

What’s that? What’s that?” asked 
the Bold Tin Soldier. “ ‘Son g a sing’?” 

“It’s just the same as sing a song only 
I do it backwards by standing on my 
head,” answered the Calico Clown. 

“Don’t pay too much attention to him,” 
whispered the Sawdust Doll. “He’s cut- 
ting up to-night.” 

“I should say he was!” exclaimed the 
Tin Soldier. “Song a sing! The idea! 
Next we know he’ll be tuning a whistle in- 
stead of whistling a tune, and they aren’t 
the same thing at all — even backwards.” 

“Indeed not !” agreed the Sawdust Doll. 
“But I’m so glad you drove that rat 
away,” she added, and she looked kindly 


JUST WAITING 


23 


at the Bold Tin Soldier. “We never could 
have had any fun while he was here.” 

Then the good times began. They 
played tag and hide-and-go-seek and a new 
game they made up among themselves. 
They called it “Jump the Jack.” 

Each one had to take a turn jumping 
over the Jack-in- the-Box, and the Jack 
would reach up and try to tag them as they 
leaped over his head. If he touched any 
one of them, that toy had to stand on one 
foot and sing a song. And they had lots 
of fun when the Calico Clown was touched 
by the Jack-in-the-Box, for the Clown 
sang such a funny song, all backwards 
with the words mixed up like pickles. 

Of course the White Rocking Horse was 
too big to get up on the counter and jump 
around with the Candy Rabbit and the 
Sawdust Doll, but he had fun staying on 
the floor near the toy blackboard and 


24 STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL 


watching the chalk draw funny pictures. 
For not only the toys that are in the shape 
of animals and persons have fun when no 
one is watching them, but the others, also, 
like the roller skates and the velocipedes, 
have good times among themselves at these 
midnight frolics. 

And so the fun went on. The Sawdust 
Doll was having a lovely time, playing on 
a little toy piano for the Monkey on a 
Stick to dance with the Calico Clown, and 
the Candy Rabbit was listening to a 
Stuffed Duck tell how she learned to swim 
in the Goldfish bowl when all at once the 
Tin Soldier cried : 

“Back to your shelves and counters, 
everybody !” 

“What’s the matter? Is the rat com- 
ing again ?” asked the Sawdust Doll, as she 
stopped playing the toy piano. 

“No, but it is getting daylight,” was the 


JUST WAITING 


25 


answer. “I can see the gleam of the sun 
in the eastern windows. Soon the store 
will be open and people will be coming in 
to buy — perhaps some one may buy me and 
my brave men.” 

“Oh, I hope not!” sighed the Sawdust 
Doll. “If you go away, what shall we do 
if the rat comes back?” 

“Maybe I can stop up his hole before I 
go away,” the Bold Tin Soldier an- 
swered. “But quick, now! Everybody 
back on shelf or counter ! Here comes the 
sun!” 

And as the sun rose and filled the world 
with light, the doors of Toy Town opened. 
The clerks came in to dust the different 
things and set them to rights, for it was 
the Christmas season and many people 
would come to buy. 

“I wonder if some one will buy me,” 
softly murmured the Sawdust Doll. 


20 STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL 


“Do you want thorn to?” asked the 
Candy Rabbit. 

“Well, I suppose that is why I was put 
in Toy Town,” answered the DolL “I 
want to do my duty, and make some little 
girl happy.” 

“Yes, that’s what we’re for,” laughed 
the jolly Calico Clown. “It’s fun to make 
boys and girls happy. I only wish I could 
crack some of my jokes for them, but it 
isn’t allowed. I know one about an ear of 
com and ” 

“Hush!” whispered the Sawdust Doll. 
“Here comes the girl who has charge of 
our counter!” 

Then all the toys stopped talking among 
themselves and became straight and stiff. 
They were waiting — just waiting for some 
one to come in and buy them. 


CHAPTER III 


THE LITTLE GIRL 

Ixto the store came a little girl, her 
mother, and a little boy. They took their 
places in the elevator and were lifted up, 
just like a balloon, only different, of 

course. 

“May we stop in the toy department, 
Mother?” asked the little girl. “I want 
to look at some dolls.” 

“What for?” asked the boy. 

“Because my birthday is next week, 
Dick,” answered the little girl, whose 
name was Dorothy. “It’s my birthday, 
and maybe I’ll get a doll then, or for 
Christmas.” 


2 7 


28 STORY OP A SAWDUST DOLL 


“It isn’t my birthday until after Christ- 
mas,” said Dick. “But I don’t want a 
doll either of those times.” 

“What do you want?” asked Mother, 
smiling at her two children as she left the 
elevator with them. “What would you 
like, Richard?” she asked; for that was 
Dick’s real name. 

4 6 A rocking horse, ’ ’ he answered. “I’d 
like a big rocking horse, and then I could 
make believe I was a soldier captain go- 
ing to war.” 

“Yes, we’ll look through the toy de- 
partment,” promised the mother, and then 
happy looks came over the faces of Dick 
and Dorothy. 

On the shelves and counters where, a 
little while before in the half-darkness, the 
Sawdust Doll, the Calico Clown, and the 
other toys had had such fun, they now sat 
or stood, as stiff as the ramrod in the gun 


THE LITTLE GIRL 


29 


of the Tin Soldier. Not one of them 
moved, and the White Rocking Horse just 
stared straight in front of him, looking at 
the blackboard. 

“Oh, Mother, here are the dolls!’ 9 cried 
Dorothy, and she pointed to a shelf back 
of the counter on which the Calico Clown, 
stood near the Bold Tin Soldier. “See 
the dolls on the shelves ! Oh, what pretty 
ones!” 

“Would you like to look at the dolls?” 
asked the girl behind the counter. She 
worked in the store, and now she lifted 
down the Sawdust Doll who had, only an 
hour or so before, been riding on the back 
of the White Rocking Horse. 

“Here is a very pretty doll,” said the 
girl clerk, who was pretty herself. “Her 
eyes open and shut.” 

“And they’re brown, too, just like 
Dick’s!” whispered the little girl to her 


30 STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL 


mother, as she took the doll in her arms. 
“Oh, please may I have her ?” 

“111 see,” answered the mother, and 
from the way she said this, and because of 
the smile on her face and the look in her 
eyes, the little girl clapped her hands. I 
think she knew her mother was going to 
get her the doll she wanted. 

For a moment the Sawdust Doll thought 
the little girl was going to buy her and 
take her home. 

“I’d just love to go with her,” thought 
the Sawdust Doll to herself. “She looks 
like a kind, good little girl, and I’m sure 
she wouldn’t leave me out in the rain all 
night to get soaked through. I wonder if 
I shall go to her house to live?” 

“Dear me!” thought the Tin Captain 
to himself, “I hope the Sawdust Doll isn’t 
going to leave. I shall be lonesome if she 
goes.” 


THE LITTLE GIRL 


31 


Just then there was a shout and some 
jolly laughter down on the floor of the toy 
department. 

“Oh, this is what I want ! This is what 
I want!” cried Dorothy’s brother, Dick. 
“Here’s the White Rocking Horse I 
want!” 

And the next moment he had leaped to 
the saddle, and then he rocked to and fro 
on the back of the white horse. The stir- 
rups jingled and the boy shook the reins 
that were fast in the wooden mouth of the 
horse. 

“Gid-dap, White Rocking Horse!’ 9, 
cried the boy. “I’m a cowboy! Gid- 
dap!” 

“I thought you were going to be a sol- 
dier captain,” said the little girl, who had 
run from the doll counter when she heard 
her brother’s joyous laughter. 

“I’ll be a cowboy part of the time and 


32 STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL 


a soldier the other part,” he said. “And 
if you get a doll, Dorothy, I’ll let her ride 
on my horse. Please, Mother, buy me 
this!” he begged. 

“Not now, Dick,” was Mother’s answer. 
“But, if you like, you may write Santa 
Claus a letter telling him you’d like this 
horse for Christmas.” 

“Oh, I’ll do that!” cried the boy. 

All day long boys and girls and fathers 
and mothers and uncles, aunts and cousins 
came to the toy department to look, and 
some bought different things which they 
took away with them, or had sent. 

And though many dolls and clowns and 
candy rabbits and monkeys on sticks were 
taken from the shelves or the counters, the 
particular friends about whom I have told 
you were not sold. Once a lady came in, 
and the Calico Clown was taken up and 
shown to her. 


THE LITTLE GIRL 


33 


“No, I believe I will not buy one to- 
day,” said the lady. 

“Oh, I’m so glad!” thought the Calico 
Clown to himself. “When I’m bought I 
want to be bought by a boy or a girl. I 
can have more fun with them.” 

And so the day passed. It began to get 
dark and lights glowed in the store. The 
stream of shoppers thinned out, and the 
tired girls who waited behind the counters 
put away their aprons and left for home. 
The porters began to sweep, and then the 
lights were put out one by one and only 
the watchman was left in the store. 

“Well, another day has gone!” said the 
Sawdust Doll, as she sat up and waved her 
hand to the Bold Tin Soldier. 

“Yes, and it came nearly being your 
last day with us,” remarked the Calico 
Clown. “I heard what the little girl said. 
I believe she is going to take you away.” 


34 STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL 


“Well, I shall be sorry to leave you, my 
friends, of course,” said the Sawdust Doll. 
'“But that little girl looked kind and good. 
I should not mind if she owned me.” 

“Her brother was a jolly chap, too,” 
said the White Rocking Horse. “He 
jumped on my back and had a ride, but 
lie was very gentle with me. If I go to 
anybody, I hope I go to him.” 

“Yes, you two seem to be going to have 
nice homes,” said the Candy Rabbit. “I 
hope I find as good a place.” 

“So do I,” said the Calico Clown. 
“Well, all I want is to make some one 
j oily ! That ’s the life for me ! Whoop de- 
doodle-do!” and he banged his cymbals 
and shouted, as he could do, for there were 
no boys or girls or grown folks there to 
watch. 

“What was that joke you were going 
to tell us about an ear of corn?” asked the 


THE LITTLE GIRL 


35 


Sawdust Doll. ‘ 6 May we not hear it now ? 
Let’s be jolly again! Let’s have another 
party ! Soon we may part, perhaps never 
to meet again,” and she spoke rather 
sadly. 

“Oh, don’t say that!” begged the Tin 
Soldier, as he polished his sword on his 
sleeve. “Don’t say that!” and he looked 
at the Sawdust Doll. 

“Ha! Ha! Ha!” laughed the Calico 
Clown. “Here’s a joke! How does the 
lima bean succotash know when it’s time 
for dinner?” 

“Pooh! I don’t call that a joke,” said 
the White Rocking Horse. “How can 
succotash know when it’s time for din- 
ner?” 

“Because it hears the bell with the ear 
of corn ! ’ ’ laughed the clown. * ‘ That ’s the 
time I fooled you! Well, now let’s have 
another party!” he went on, jumping 


36 STORY OP A SAWDUST DOLL 


down from his shelf and pulling the tail 
of the Monkey on a Stick. 

“ I hope the old rat doesn’t come again,” 
said the Sawdust Doll. 

The toys were having grand fun again, 
and the Bold Tin Soldier was helping the 
Candy Rabbit up on the back of the White 
Rocking Horse for a ride, when, all of a 
sudden, the door of the toy department 
opened and a big man came in. 

“ Oh ! Oh ! ” shrieked the Sawdust Doll, 
and the Calico Clown jumped behind the 
Jack-in-the-Box so quickly that his cym- 
bals rattled on the wooden nose of the 
Lamb on Wheels. 


CHAPTER TVj 


IN AN AUTOMOBILE 

Just as soon, of course, as the door 
opened and the man came in, all the toys 
at once stopped moving about, and they 
stopped talking and having fun. That is 
because the man looked at them, and you 
know I told you the moment a real, live 
person looked at the toys, the Doll, Clown, 
Rocking Horse, and all the others became 
just like clothes-pins — they couldn’t and 
wouldn’t move by themselves. 

Slowly the big man walked into the 
middle of the toy department and looked 
about him. His eyes glanced at the Saw- 
dust Doll, and from her they went to the 

37 


38 STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL 


Tin Soldier. Neither of them so much as 
wiggled a fingernail. 

“But I was wondering, all the while,” 
said the Sawdust Doll afterward, “if that 
man was a burglar. 5 ’ 

“This is queer! When I was on the 
floor below I thought surely I heard a noise 
up here ! I thought some one was in here 
trying to get the Christmas things. But 
that shan’t happen as long as I am watch- 
man here ! No, indeed !” 

The big man looked all around to make 
sure no bad persons were hiding away to 
take the toys after he had left. He looked 
very sharply at the Calico Clown, the man 
did. 

“I thought surely I heard the rattle of 
those cymbals the clown holds,” said the 
man. 4 1 But perhaps it was the wind blow- 
ing them, or a rat running over them. 
There are rats in this store.” 


IN AN AUTOMOBILE 


39 


The toys knew that very well, for they 
had seen a large one. And wasn’t it queer 
that the man had thought he heard the 
cymbals jingle? 

“He really did hear them, for I banged 
them on the Lamb’s nose when I jumped 
down,” said the Calico Clown afterward. 

But of course the man did not know 
that the toys could come to life and have a 
party among themselves when no one was 
looking, and so he thought the wind or a 
rat had made the cymbals tinkle. 

And when he was gone the Sawdust 
Doll slowly raised her head from where 
she had lain down on a shelf and said : 

“Fancy now! How foolish I was to 
think he was a robber! He is the good, 
kind watchman of this store.” 

“But of course we can’t allow him to 
see us moving about, or hear us talk, any 
more than we can let the girls and boys,” 


40 STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL 


said the Calico Clown, and he made such 
a funny face that the White Rocking 
Horse swung to and fro in laughter. 

“Well, now that he’s gone, let’s have 
some more fun,” cried the Candy Rabbit. 
“Go on with the party.” 

“That’s what I sayf f ’ chattered the 
Monkey on a Stick, as he quickly climbed 
up and down, so rapidly that the Sawdust 
Doll cried : 

‘ ‘ Oh, don ’t ! You make me dizzy ! ’ ’ 

“Yes, behave yourself,” said the Bold 
Tin Soldier. “We can’t all be as lively as 
you. Now, if you like, I’ll march out my 
men and we will parade for you. How 
will that do?” 

“Oh, fine !” exclaimed the Sawdust Doll. 
“I love parades! Don’t you?” she asked 
the^. Calico Clown. 

“Yes, they’re very nice,” he answered. 
“And when the drum goes ‘Boom ! Boom !’ 


IN AN AUTOMOBILE 


41 


I feel like jumping up and down and bang- 
ing my cymbals.’ ’ 

“Well, you may do that,” said the cap- 
tain of the Tin Soldiers. “We should all 
be as jolly as we can, for there is no tell- 
ing now, from day to day, with Christmas 
coming on, when one of us may be taken 
away.” 

The Sawdust Doll thought of the little 
girl who had wanted her so much, and she 
thought of what the mother had said : 

“Put that brown-eyed doll away for me. 
I shall come in again.” 

“I wonder if she will really buy me for 
her little girl,” thought the Sawdust 
Doll. 

And the White Rocking Horse remem- 
bered the boy who had jumped on his back 
and had taken a ride there in the store. 

“I should like him for a master,” 
thought the White Rocking Horse. 


42 STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL 

“Well, now for the parade!” called the 
Bold Tin Soldier smartly. “Fall in, my 
men!” 

“Fall in! Ha! Ha! Does he want 
them to fall into the Goldfish tank V 7 
laughed the Calico Clown. 

“Hush! Be quiet!” begged the Saw- 
dust Doll. “When a captain tells his sol- 
diers to ‘fall in’ he means for them to 
stand in a straight line so they may 
march.” 

And that is just what the Tin Soldiers 
did. They stood in line behind their cap- 
tain, who drew his shining tin sword, and 
then they marched in and out among the 
tables, counters and shelves of the toy de- 
partment. 

They right-wheeled and left-wheeled and 
halted and went on the double-quick and 
then they all stood up and fired their guns 
— make-believe, of course, for the guns 


IN AN AUTOMOBILE 


43 


were only of tin, and had no powder in 
them, not even talcum powder. 

“But it’s lots of fun to make believe!” 
said the Sawdust Doll, when the parade 
had ended. 

“Yes, it certainly is!” said the Calico 
Clown. “And, speaking of fun, reminds 
# me of a joke. What part of a doll’s house 
is hot and cold at the same time?” 

“ Ho ! Such a thing can ’the!” exclaimed 
the White Rocking Horse. “Nothing can 
be hot and cold at the same time.” 

“Yes, it can!” said the Calico Clown. 
“It’s the front door of the doll’s house. 
The outside part of the door is cold, and 
the inside part, nearest the fire, is hot. Ha, 
Ha !” and he rattled his cymbals like any- 
thing. 

And so the make-believe party of the 
toys went on in the night. It was make- 
believe only to such persons as you and 


44 STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL 


me and the watchman. To the toys the 
party was real enough, for they could talk 
among themselves, and move and jump 
about. But if any one had looked at them, 
even a little baby, the toys would have been 
as still and quiet as a hairpin. That’s the 
funny part of it. 

The Sawdust Doll was just having a 
little dance with the Calico Clown, and the 
Monkey on a Stick was asking the White 
Rocking Horse to give him a ride around 
the floor when, all of a sudden, the Lamb 
on Wheels came rolling back from where 
she had gone to look out of a window. 

‘ ‘ The sun is coming up ! The sun is com- 
ing up !” cried the Lamb. “Back to your 
places, every one of you. It will soon be 
daylight and the people will begin coming 
In.” 

And, surely enough, a little while after 
that, when all the toys were back in their 


45 


IN AN AUTOMOBILE 

places, the store opened, the clerks took 
their stand behind counters and in front of 
shelves, and once more the busy shopping 
day began. 

“ I wonder if anything will happen to 
me to-day,” thought the Sawdust Doll as 
she sat on her shelf, with other dolls and 
toys around her. 6 6 1 wonder if I shall ever 
have any adventures. I wonder M 

And just then she was surprised to see, 
coming toward the doll counter, the same 
lady who, the day before, had been in with 
the little girl Dorothy and the boy Dick. 

“ Where is that pretty doll I looked at 
yesterday?” asked the lady of the girl 
clerk. “I mean the one with the brown 
eyes?” 

“This is it, Madam,” was the answer. 
“I put it aside for you,” and the girl lifted 
down the Sawdust Doll. To look at her 
you never would have thought that, a few 


46 STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL 


hours before, she had been dancing around 
with the Calico Clown. 

“Yes, that is the doll I want for my 
little girl,” said the lady. “It is one of 
the most beautiful I have seen in the store. 
Her brown eyes are so very pretty. I’ll 
take her.” 

And then began some adventures for the 
Sawdust Doll. She was dusted off with a 
soft brush, and it tickled her face so that 
she wanted to sneeze, but she knew she 
would not dare do that with all the people 
around. Then the clerk wrapped some 
soft paper around her, and more paper on 
the outside of that and tied it with a 
string. 

“Gracious! I hope I don’t smother!” 
thought the Sawdust Doll. 

She wished she might have a chance to 
say good-bye to the White Rocking Horse, 
and to the Candy Rabbit, the Monkey on 


IN AN AUTOMOBILE 


47 


a Stick, the Bold Tin Soldier, the Lamb 
on Wheels, and the' Calico Clown. 

But of course this could not be done 
while all the people were looking on. But 
the Tin Soldier, the Calico Clown, and 
others were thinking to themselves rather 
sad thoughts. 

“There goes our Sawdust Doll !” thought 
the Clown. “I suppose 111 never see her 
again.” 

“And I’ll never have another chance to 
drive a bad rat away from her with my 
tin sword,” thought the Tin Soldier. 

“She’ll never ride on my back again,” 
mused the White Rocking Horse. 

“Never again will she tell me how sweet 
I am,” sighed the Candy Rabbit. 

“She used to like to watch me go up and 
down on my stick,” whispered the Monkey 
to himself; “that is, when I didn’t go too 
fast.” 


48 STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL 


“She used to feel my soft wool,” was 
what the Lamb on Wheels thought to her- 
self. 

But the lady who had bought the Saw- 
dust Doll knew nothing of this. She took 
the package the clerk gave her, and, with 
it in her arms, got into her automobile. 

“We’ll go home now,” said the lady to 
the man who sat at the steering-wheel. “I 
have the doll for Dorothy, so we’ll go 
home.” 

And, a moment later, the Sawdust Doll 
was rolling smoothly over the streets on 
her way to have new adventures. But she 
could not help feeling sad when she 
thought of the toys she had left behind in 
the store. 


CHAPTER V 


THE BIRTHDAY PARTY 

The Sawdust Doll could not see, of 
course, all the things that happened on her 
automobile ride, for she was wrapped in 
paper from the store. But she could feel 
the big machine gliding along on its rub- 
ber-tired wheels, and she knew she was 
having a ride. 

“It may be nicer than a ride on the back 
of the White Rocking Horse/ ’ thought 
the Sawdust Doll, “but it isn’t so much 
fun, cooped up here as I am. I wish we’d 
get where we’re going.” 

And, soon enough, she had her wish. 
Through the different streets rolled the 

4* 


50 STORY OP A SAWDUST DOLL 


automobile, and soon it came to a stop 
near a pretty house in front of which was 
a lawn. The lawn was green in summer, 
but now, as it was near Christmas, there 
was white snow on the grass. 

“You may put the auto up now,” said 
the lady to the driver. “I shall not be go- 
ing out again to-day. I must get ready 
for Dorothy’s birthday party.” 

And then the Sawdust Doll was carried 
into the house. The lady hurried up the 
stairs, holding the package under her fur 
coat. 

“Is that you, Mother?” called Dorothy 
from the playroom. 

“Yes,” was the answer. “Stay there! 
I’ll be with you in a moment. Is Dick 
there?” 

“Yes, I’m here !” Dick answered. “I’m 
making believe a chair is a rocking horse. 
Did you bring me a rocking horse, 


THE BIRTHDAY PARTY 51 


Mother ?” he asked, and he came to the 
door of the playroom. 

“It isn’t Christmas yet,” Mother an- 
swered, with a laugh. “Here, Martha,” 
she quickly said to the maid. “Take this 
doll. It’s for Dorothy’s birthday to-mor- 
row. Hide it away on top of a closet shelf 
where Dorothy ’ll not see it.” 

The doll was laid away on a shelf in a 
dark closet. That is, it was dark for a 
time, but, after a while, the Sawdust Doll 
began to see things faintly, just as she 
used to look at things on the shelves and 
counters of the toy store. 

6 ‘ Hello ! Who ’s there % ’ ’ suddenly asked 
a voice of the Sawdust Doll, and she knew, 
right away, that it was a toy, like herself, 
speaking. But all she could dimly see was 
a small, square box in one corner of the 
top clothes ’-press shelf. 

“Hello!” said a voice again. 


52 STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL 


“ Hello !” answered the Sawdust Doll 
politely. “But I can’t see any one,” she 
added. 

“And no wonder! My spring is brok- 
en, and I can’t put my head out to see you, 
either,” the voice went on. “But I can 
look at you through a crack.” 

“A crack in what?” asked the Sawdust 
Doll. 

“A crack in my box,” was the reply. 

“Well, go on,” said the Sawdust Doll, 
after a moment of silence. 

“I’m Jack-in-the-Box,” the voice con- 
tinued. “I used to live in a toy store, and 
I was bought last Christmas for the boy 
who lives in this house. But after he had 
played with me awhile, watching me jump 
out of my box every time the lid was lift- 
ed, my spring broke. I couldn’t jump any 
more then, and the boy grew tired of me. 
So I was put away on this shelf. Good- 


THE BIRTHDAY PARTY 53 


ness, how lonesome I’ve been! I’m glad 
you came to keep me company. How long 
are you going to stay?” 

“I don’t know,” answered the Sawdust 
Doll. 

“I hope your spring isn’t broken, and 
that you are not put here because you 
aren’t of any more use as a toy,” said 
Jack-in-the-Box. 

“No, I haven’t any springs,” answered 
the Doll. “I’m full of sawdust. ’ ’ 

“That’s better than having a spring in- 
side you,” said Jack. “You can’t break 
sawdust.” 

“No, but you can spill it,” the Doll went 
on. “And that’s what I’m always afraid 
of, that some day there’ll be an accident 
and all my sawdust will run out.” 

“Oh, let us hope not!” exclaimed Jack. 
“But, really, I’m glad you have come. I 
was dreadfully lonesome here! Tell me 


54 STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL 


about yourself. Tell me about your ad- 
ventures.” 

“I haven’t had many yet,” the Sawdust 
Doll replied. “We used to have fun play- 
ing party in the store after all the real 
folks were gone. But I’d like to hear 
about you. Having your spring broken 
must be a very wonderful adventure in- 
deed.” 

“Yes, it’s wonderful, all right,” sighed 
Jack. “But it isn’t much fun. If my 
spring were not broken I could look out 
now from the top of my box and see you 
and talk to you much better. As it is, I 
have to whisper through the crack.” 

“It isn’t much fun talking through a 
crack,” agreed the Sawdust Doll. “But 
tell me about your spring.” 

So Jack told how one day the boy 
pushed him into the box too hard, and 
slammed the cover down so quickly that 


THE BIRTHDAY PARTY 55 


there was* a snip and a snap, and poor 
Jack’s spring broke. Never after that 
could he jump out of his box with a squeak 
whenever the lid was lifted. 

“And now I want to hear about you,” 
said J ack. So the Sawdust Doll told about 
her friends in the store, and how the Bold 
Tin Soldier had driven the rat back to his 
hole. 

For some little time the Jack-in-the-Box 
and the Sawdust Doll remained on the 
closet shelf, talking together in the make- 
believe language of toys — a language no 
real persons ever hear, any more than they 
can see the toys at play. 

Then, the next day, the closet door sud- 
denly opened, and a flood of light came in. 

“Ha! I think they’ve come for you,” 
whispered Jack. 

“Maybe it’s for you,” the 1 Doll an- 
swered. 


56 STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL 


“Oh, no, my days are over,” was the 
Jack’s reply. “Nobody wants to play with 
a broken toy. I’ll stay here a long time, 
I suppose. But your adventures are just 
beginning.” 

And that is just what happened. The 
Sawdust Doll was lifted down off the 
shelf, and a beautiful dress was put on 
her. It was made of silk, and was the color 
of a rose. 

“You are as nice a doll as any little girl 
could wish,” said Martha, the maid, as she 
tied a blue sash on the Sawdust Doll. 

There was a looking-glass in the room 
where the maid was dressing the toy for 
the birthday party, and the Sawdust Doll 
had a look at herself in the mirror. 

“My, how nice I look,” thought the doll. 
“This is much nicer than wearing nothing 
but a bit of cheese cloth, as I did in the 
store. I won’t catch cold now.” 


THE BIRTHDAY PARTY 57 


The rose silk dress was fastened on the 
doll, and then Mother came to get the toy. 

“It is almost time for Dorothy’s party,” 
said Mother. “I hope she will like her 
doll. I’ll take it down.” 

Down the stairs the Sawdust Doll was 
carried, and a moment later, she found her- 
self in a room that was filled with little 
girls and boys. The girls all wore pretty 
dresses and the boys had their hair 
combed, so the Sawdust Doll began to 
think it was a party. And when she heard 
the guests say to Dorothy that they 
wished her “many happy returns,” the 
Sawdust Doll knew it was a birthday 
party. 

“Here you are, little daughter I” said 
Mother to Dorothy. “Here is a present 
for you,” and the Sawdust Doll was hand- 
ed to the little girl. 

Dorothy’s eyes shone in delight, and she 


58 STORY OP A SAWDUST DOLL' 


danced up and down as she hugged the toy 
close in her arms. 

“Oh, she’s the very doll I wanted !” cried 
Dorothy. “It’s the same one I saw in the 
store! Look, Dick!” she called to her 
brother, showing him her new pet. “Don’t 
you remember ? This doll was in the store 
where you rode the White Rocking 
Horse!” 

“Yes, and I wish I had the Rocking 
Horse now ! ’ ’ exclaimed Dick. “But dolls 
are all right for girls, and I’m glad you 
have a new one, Dorothy,” he added, feel- 
ing he had not been very polite. “She is 
pretty.” 

“Yes, my doll is lovely!” said Dorothy. 

“Indeed she is!” cried all the other 
girls. And though each one of them had 
a doll, none was any prettier or more beau- 
tifully dressed than the Sawdust Doll. 

Then the party fun began. The boys 



Carlo Runs Away With the Sawdust 


Doll 
Page 63 











THE BIRTHDAY PARTY 59 


and girls played games and danced to mu- 
sic. Some of the girls even danced with 
the Sawdust Doll, and I think it was very 
good of Dorothy to let them play with her 
beautiful new doll. But they were very 
careful. 

“I like birthday parties,” thought the 
Sawdust Doll. “I wish the Bold Tin Sol- 
dier and the Calico Clown were here to 
enjoy this one,” 

After the children had played games 
they had good things to eat, for that is one 
of the best things at a party. And while 
the children ate cake and ice cream the 
Sawdust Doll was laid aside. She found 
herself lying on a table near a big pin- 
cushion that was tied with a yellow 
ribbon. 

“I hope none of the pins or needles 
come out and stick me,” thought the Doll, 
as she looked at them. “ If I get a hole in 


60 STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL 


me all my sawdust wilFrun out. and that 
would be dreadful. ” 

Dorothy’s new toy, lying on a table near 
the pin-cushion in a side room, could hear 
the joyous shouts and laughter of the chil- 
dren at the birthday party. She could 
hear the rattle of spoons and of the ice- 
cream dishes. 

All of a sudden, when it was very still 
and quiet in the room where the Sawdust 
Doll was lying, there came a growling 
noise. 

“Gracious me!” thought the Sawdust 
Doll, “I wonder if that is Buster the Bear 
whom J ack was telling me about. I won- 
der !” 

She started to rise and look around, but 
she was afraid to do this for fear some pry- 
ing boy or girl might be looking. And the 
toys never dare move if any one looks at 
them. 


THE BIRTHDAY PARTY 61 


Then, after the growl, there came a bark 
— a loud bark. 

“That can’t be a bear!” thought the 
Sawdust Doll. “Bears don’t bark — they 
growl. But I remember there was a 
Fuzzy Dog in Toy Town. He used to 
growl and wag his tail when he was wound 
up. I wonder if the Fuzzy Dog could be 
here? I wish I dared look.” 

And then something dreadful happened. 
At least it was dreadful to the Sawdust 
Doll. For a shaggy dog, one she knew was 
real and not a toy, rushed up to her, 
growling and barking. And the next mo- 
ment the Sawdust Doll was caught up in 
the dog’s mouth, dragged from the table 
and carried away! 


CHAPTER VI 


IN THE DOG HOUSE 

Carlo, the shaggy dog, who lived in the 
same house with Dorothy and Dick, was 
not a bad dog. But he liked to find new 
things to pick up in his teeth, shake, and 
then carry off. Sometimes he hid the 
things he carried off in this way, and they 
were not Sound for a long time afterward. 
Often he would take the ball Dick played 
with and run off with that. But when Dick 
saw Carlo doing this he chased the dog and 
got back the ball. 

However, this time no one saw Carlo 
taking away the Sawdust Doll. The dog 
had watched his chance, and when he saw 
62 


IN THE DOG HOUSE 


63 


Dorothy and the other girls and boys in 
the dining-room, eating cake and ice 
cream, Carlo just thought to himself : 

“Now I can run in and grab something ! 
I saw Dorothy put something up on the 
table. Maybe it’s a ball that I can have 
fun with!” 

So Carlo hurried into the room where 
he had seen Dorothy lay something down, 
and, as the table was not very high, Carlo 
jumped right up on it. 

“Oh, here’s something fine for me to 
carry away!” said the dog to himself, and 
then he picked up the Sawdust Doll. 

Out of the room, down the hall and past 
the dining-room where the children were 
having such jolly times ran Carlo with the 
Sawdust Doll in his mouth. He did not 
hurt her, for he did not really bite her. He 
only carried her as a mother cat carries 
her kittens by the backs of their necks. 


64 STORY OP A SAWDUST DOLL’ 


Besides, being stuffed with sawdust as she 
was, the Doll could not feel pain. Of 
course her feelings were hurt a little when 
the dog grabbed her up so suddenly, but 
she seemed to know she would not really 
be harmed. 

“ There you are!” said Carlo, in dog 
language, as he dropped the Sawdust Doll 
down in the straw of his kennel, or house, 
at the end of the yard. “ There you are! 
No one will find you here !” 

The Sawdust Doll did not answer the 
dog, even though she may have known 
what he said. Pet animals and toy pets 
do not speak the same sort of talk, at least 
to one another. And pet animals can move 
about and bark or mew whether any real 
folks are looking at them or not. Toy 
dolls, rocking horses, and monkeys are not 
like that. They never move, or do any- 
thing if you watch them. 


IN THE DOG HOUSE 


65 


Carlo scuttled around in the straw until 
he had covered the Sawdust Doll from 
sight in his kennel. Then, wagging his 
tail, as though he had done something 
smart, he went back to the party. 

“I’m glad he’s gone,” said the Doll. 

Carlo liked parties — there were always 
stray bits of cake dropping on the floor and 
Carlo could pick them up. He didn ’t mind 
it because they had been on the carpet. 
And it was good for the carpet to have him 
pick them up. 

So, leaving the Sawdust Doll in his ken- 
nel, Carlo ran back to the house. He 
wagged his tail as he thought of the good 
things the boys and girls might give him. 
And they sometimes did give him good 
things. As soon as he trotted in through 
the kitchen, where the door had been left 
open to bring in another freezer of ice 
cream, Carlo found a piece of cake on the 


66 STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL 


floor. That made him wag his tail harder 
than before. 

But the poor Sawdust Doll ! Think of 
her left all alone out in the straw of the 
dog’s kennel, with her new rose-colored 
silk dress on ! Wasn’t that too bad ? 

‘ 6 This certainly is an adventure!” said 
the Sawdust Doll to herself. “I’m glad 
this straw is nice and warm, or I might get 
cold. But I don’t exactly like it here. It 
was better even on the closet shelf with 
Jack-in-the-Box, though he did have to 
talk through a crack to me.” 

For some time the Sawdust Doll lay in 
the straw of the dog kennel. She sat up 
and looked about her, for, there being no 
one there with human eyes to watch, the 
toy could do as she pleased. She even got 
up and walked about, though it was hard 
work because the long pieces of straw were 
tangled in her feet. She went to the door 


IN THE DOG HOUSE 


67 


of the kennel and looked out, first making 
sure no one was in the yard to see her. , 

“Dear me! I never could walk back 
to the house through the snow,” said 
the Sawdust Doll to herself. “If it were 
summer time I might try it after dark, 
when every one had gone to bed. But I 
never could do it now in the snow. I’d 
simply catch cold and have the sawdust 
fever. No, I shall have to stay here until 
some one comes for me. I hope that nice 
girl Dorothy misses me soon, and comes 
and gets me.” 

And, surely enough, Dorothy did miss 
her doll shortly after that. The cake, ice 
cream, and other good things had been 
eaten, and after some games had been 
played by the boys and girls, Dorothy said : 

“Now let’s get my new doll again, girls ! 
She must be lonesome waiting for us to 
get through with our cake and ice cream.” 


68 STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL 


“Yes, we’ll get your doll,” said another 
girl. 

Dorothy ran to the table where she had 
put her Sawdust Doll. 

“Why! Why!” cried the little girl. 
6 6 She isn ’t here ! She ’s gone ! ’ 7 

“What is gone, Dorothy?” asked 
Mother. “Your piece of cake? You 
shouldn’t have left it on the table, my 
dear.” 

“No, Mother, I didn’t leave any cake on 
the table, ’ ’ Dorothy said. 6 6 It was my new 
Sawdust Doll. I left her here, and now 
she is gone!” 

“Oh, that is too bad!” said Dorothy’s 
mother. “But are you sure you left your 
doll on this table?” she asked the little 
girl. 

“Oh, yes,” answered Dorothy. 

“I saw the Sawdust Doll lying there,” 
said Helen, one of the party guests. 


IN THE DOG HOUSE 


69 


“So did I,” chimed in Dick. 

And then Dorothy looked sharply at her 
brother. 

“Did you take my doll?” she asked him 
suddenly. * ‘ Did you take my new doll that 
mother just gave me for my birthday?” 

“Course I didn’t!” cried Dick. “Why 
should I take your doll ? I don’t play with 
dolls!” 

“Dorothy thought perhaps you had 
taken it in fun, ’ ’ gently said Mother. ‘ ‘ If 
you didn’t, perhaps Martha laid it in an- 
other place. We must look for the Saw- 
dust Doll.” 

“We can make a game of it — like hide 
the thimble!” cried Dick. 

“I don’t want my Sawdust Doll made 
into a game !” exclaimed Dorothy, who was 
feeling sad. 

“It is only in fun, and make believe,” 
said Mother. ‘ ‘ That will be a good way to 


70 STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL 


find your pet, my dear. Come, children, 
look for Dorothy’s doll.” 

The Sawdust Doll was not the only one 
Dorothy had, but as it was her newest toy 
she wanted that just then more than any 
of the others. So she helped her boy and 
girl friends look in the different rooms for 
the missing doll. The maid said she had 
not taken the Sawdust Doll away, and no 
one could imagine where she was. And 
the tears came into Dorothy’s eyes as min- 
ute after minute passed and the new toy 
was not found. 

And now we must see what is happen- 
ing to the Sawdust Doll. For some time, 
after going to the door of the kennel to 
look out, she lay quietly in the straw. It 
kept her warm, for there was no fire in 
Carlo’s house, as there was in the house 
where Dorothy and Dick lived. 

After a while the Sawdust Doll heard 


IN THE DOG HOUSE 


71 


some one walking toward the kennel. She 
knew the sound of human footsteps, foij 
she had often heard them in the depart- 
ment store. And she knew it was not the 
Bold Tin Soldier or the Calico Clown 
coming toward her now. 

“I wish it were one of my friends, ” 
thought the Sawdust Doll; “but it cannot 
be. This person walks just like the watch- 
man in the store. I wonder who it is.” 

And then a loud but pleasant voice spoke, 
and a man said : 

‘ ‘Well, well ! I almost forgot about put- 
ting some clean straw in Carlo’s kennel! 
That straw he has must be all wet with the 
snow. I’ll rake that out and put in fresh 
for the dog. It will keep him warmer to- 
night.” 

Something long and black, with sharp 
iron teeth, was thrust into the kennel, and 
the next moment the straw was raked out, 


72 STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL 


and the Sawdust Doll went with it. Out 
she came in the midst of the straw. 

The big gardener, for he it was who was 
going to give Carlo clean straw, examined 
what he had raked out. He saw something 
pink, and, looking at it, he said : 

“Dear me, what a funny bone! Where 
could that have come from?” 

He thought the Sawdust Doll was a bone 
that Carlo had hidden in the kennel. 

“Why! Why, it isn’t a bone after all!” 
exclaimed the gardener, as he picked it up 
and looked at it more carefully. “It’s a 
doll ! A Sawdust Doll ! I wonder where 
she came from!” and he turned the toy 
over and over in his hands. 


CHAPTER VII 


IN' THE RAG-BAG 

The Sawdust Doll felt much better when 
the gardener had picked her out of the 
straw that he had raked from Carlo’s ken- 
nel. For, though the Sawdust Doll was 
only make-believe alive, she knew when 
real persons handled her. Surely she 
ought to, for she had been handled enough 
times since she was first made in the work- 
shop of Santa Claus. 

“ Thank goodness some one has me in 
charge besides that fuzzy little dog!” said 
the S awdust Doll to herself. ‘ 6 1 don ’t like 
him at all, though I don’t suppose he really 
meant to be mean to me. But I’m glad the 

73 


74 STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL 

gardener has me. I hope he likes dolls, 
and doesn’t throw me into the ash-bar 
rel!” 

The gardener was not going to do any- 
thing like that. He knew a good, new doll 
when he saw one. And as he looked at the 
rosily dressed toy in his hands, and then 
glanced toward the house, the man shook 
his head. 

And the Doll stared at the man. 

“ I think some of the boys must have 
been playing tricks on the girls at the 
party,” said the gardener. “Some of the 
boys must have hidden this doll out in the 
straw. I’m glad I found her. I’ll take 
her back. Dorothy will know to which 
little girl she belongs.” 

So, dropping the rake with which he had 
been cleaning out Carlo’s kennel, the gar- 
dener walked up to the house, and, wiping 
his feet at the back kitchen door, as he 


IN THE RAG-BAG 75 

knew the cook did not want her floor made 
dirty, in the gardener went. 

The cook was beginning to wash the cake 
and ice-cream dishes, for the eating part 
of the party was over. 

“Look here, Mary,” said the gardener to 
the cook, holding out the Sawdust Doll. 
“See what I found in Carlo’s kennel.” 

“Oh, for the love of peach pie!” cried 
the jolly cook. “That’s Dorothy’s doll! 
Where ever did you find her ? The whole 
house has been upset looking for her. 
Where was she?” 

“Out in the dog’s kennel. Some of the 
boys must have carried her there for a 
joke.” 

“Ho ! Ho ! It wasn’t any of the boys !” 
laughed the cook. “It must have been 
Carlo himself. That dog is up to so many 
tricks. He carried off Dorothy’s doll !” 
“Well, the doll isn’t harmed any,” said 


76 STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL 


the gardener. “She was in the clean 
straw. Will you take her to Dorothy ?” 

“Indeed I will, the poor little dear! 
She’s been crying for fear her new doll 
was lost. Thank you, Patrick! I’ll tell 
Dorothy you found her doll for her.” 

And when the cook went into the room 
where Dorothy and her little guests were 
still hunting for the missing doll, you can 
easily guess what joyous shouts there were. 

“Oh, there she is ! There she is !” cried 
Dorothy, when she saw her new birthday 
toy. “Where did you find her, Mary?” 
she asked, taking the Sawdust Doll in her 
arms. 

“Patrick found her in the dog’s ken- 
nel,” the cook answered. 

“Oh, Carlo ! You bad dog!” cried Dor- 
othy, and she shook her finger at the curly 
poodle, who had come back to the house 
to see if he could not get another piece of 


IN THE RAG-BAG 


77 


cake. “You’re a very bad dog to take my 
doll away!” 

And though perhaps Carlo did not know 
what it was all about, he must have felt 
that he had done something wrong, for he 
ran out of the house and crawled into his 
kennel, where, by this time, Patrick had 
put some new straw. 

“Where’s that thing I left here a while 
ago?” said Carlo to himself, as he fussed 
around in the straw. “Where’s that pink 
thing I took off the table ? I was going to 
have some fun with it, but now it’s gone !” 

And of course it was gone, for Dorothy 
had her Sawdust Doll back again, and 
Carlo was very much surprised to find his 
plaything gone. 

“Now we can have some nice games,” 
said Dorothy, when she had smoothed out 
the pink dress of her toy. For the dress 
had been a little wrinkled by Carlo’s teeth. 


78 STORY OP A SAWDUST DOLL 


And then what fun there was at the 
birthday party ! Dorothy did not feel un- 
happy any longer, and she and the boys 
and girls played games. 

“Did you have a nice time at your party, 
Dorothy?” asked Mother, when the little 
girl was going to bed that night. 

“Oh, I had a lovely time!” was the 
sleepy answer. “And so did my Sawdust 
Doll. Thank you very much, Mother, for 
giving her to me.” 

And Dorothy went to sleep, hugging her 
Sawdust Doll in her arms. 

The Sawdust Doll did not go to sleep 
right away, though. She remained awake, 
even though it was very dark in Doro- 
thy’s room, only a little night-light gleam- 
ing in the hall. 

“I do wish some of my friends from 
Toy Town were here,” thought the Saw- 
dust Doll to herself, as she lay in the bed 


IN THE RAG-BAG 


79 


with Dorothy. 4 ‘ I wish I could talk to the 
Calico Clown and the Bold Tin Soldier, 
and tell them of my adventures. I’m sure 
neither of them was ever carried off by a 
dog and hidden in a kennel. That is a 
most wonderful adventure, I’m sure!” 

And, after a while, when Dorothy was 
sound asleep, and it was all still and quiet 
in the house, after the party, the Sawdust 
Doll did just as she had done in the store 
— she made believe come to life and moved 
about. For there was no one to watch her 
— she took good care of that. And Carlo 
was out in his kennel, so he could not carry 
her off again. 

Softly and carefully the Sawdust Doll 
got out of Dorothy’s bed, climbed down by 
a chair, and walked over to the room 
where, on a shelf in the closet, the poor, 
broken Jack-in- the-B ox had to stay. 

There was a long scarf hanging from 


80 STORY OP A SAWDUST DOLL 

the shelf down to the floor, and the scarf 
had holes in it like a piece of lace. So, as 
the Sawdust Doll was not very heavy, and 
as the Monkey on a Stick had taught her 
something about climbing, the Sawdust 
Doll climbed the scarf-ladder until she 
reached the shelf. 

“Hello! who’s there?” asked the Jack, 
suddenly awakening in his box. 

“It is I,” answered the Sawdust Doll. 
“I came to tell you about my adventure.” 

“Oh, that is very kind of you,” said 
Jack. “I wish I could spring up and see 
you, but I’ll just have to look at you 
through a crack in my box. You have no 
idea how troublesome it is to have a broken 
spring.” 

“Yes, I can well imagine that it isn’t 
very j oily, ’ ’ said the Sawdust Doll. 4 4 But 
I’ll come close to your crack so I can whis- 
per through it, and tell you all about the 


IN THE RAG-BAG 81 

party and my adventure in the dog ken- 
nel” 

“I shall be delighted to hear it,” said 
the Jack, most politely. 

So up there in the dark, on the closet 
shelf, where no one could see them any 
more than the toys in the store could be 
seen at their midnight frolics, the Sawdust 
Doll and the Jack-in-the-Box talked to 
one another. 

“Dear me! That was quite remark- 
able,” said Jack, when the Sawdust Doll 
had finished her story. “Just fancy! I 
never had anything like that happen to 
me!” 

“But then, you see, you are not stuffed 
with sawdust,” returned the Doll, though 
not at all proudly. 

“No, of course that makes a difference,” 
the Jack-in-the-Box said. “But once, 
when I was shut up in my box, the black 


82 STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL 


cat came and began to play with the cover. 
She touched the catch with her paw, open 
flew the box, and I jumped out right in her 
face ! Say, Miss Sawdust Doll, I wish you 
could have seen that cat run! I just wish 
you had been there!” 

“Did she go fast?” 

“Did she go fast ? I should say she did ! 
I never saw a toy train go any faster. But 
of course that was in the long-ago days, 
before my spring was broken,” sadly said 
Jack. 

“I am sorry for you,” softly said the 
Sawdust Doll. “Maybe, some day, you 
will be mended.” 

“No, I am afraid it is too late,” sighed 
Jack. 

So he and the Sawdust Doll talked to- 
gether until, all of a sudden, Jack called 
out: 

“Hark!” 


IN THE RAG-BAG 83 

“What’s the matter?” asked the Saw- 
dust Doll. 

“The cook is grinding the coffee,” was 
the answer. “That means she is up and 
getting breakfast. It will soon be day- 
light. You had better go back where you 
came from. It would never do for you to 
be seen moving about. Folks would think 
you were alive.” 

“Yes, I had better go back,” said the 
Sawdust Doll. 

Down the scarf -ladder she went, and 
soon she was in bed with Dorothy again, 
and when the little girl awakened she 
never knew that her Sawdust Doll had 
been wandering about in the night, talking 
to Jack-in-the-Box. 

“Oh, my dear I” exclaimed Dorothy, 
when, fully awake, she looked at her Saw- 
dust Doll on the pillow. “You have a big 
spot of ice cream on your new rose-colored 


84 STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL 


silk dress ! That must have happened at 
the party. Oh, dear ! But I know what I 
can do ! I’ll make you a gingham dress to 
wear around every day. Yes, that’s what 
I ’ll do ! I ’ll make you a gingham dress ! ’ ’ 

And after breakfast the little girl asked 
her mother if it would not be a fine thing 
to make an every-day dress for the Saw- 
dust Doll. 

“I think it would be very nice,” Mother 
answered. “You may take my rag-bag. 
You’ll find some odd pieces in it and you 
can, very nicely, make a doll’s dress from 
them.” 

So Dorothy got the rag-bag and, plac- 
ing her doll down on a low bench near her, 
began to measure her new toy for a ging- 
ham dress. 

“Then if you drop ice cream on your- 
self it won’t be so bad,” said the little girl. 
“A gingham dress will wash.” 


IN THE RAG-BAG 


85 


All the morning long Dorothy sewed 
away on the dress for the Sawdust Doll. 
She had it nearly done, while the Doll lay 
on a pile of cloth near the rag-bag ready 
to be fitted. 

Dorothy was just sewing a sleeve in the 
gingham dress, and thinking how nice it 
would look on her doll, when there came a 
ring at the door, and Mirabell, a little girl 
who lived in the next house, came in. 

“Can you come over a minute, Doro- 
thy ?” asked Mirabell. “My mother is 
baking, and she said I could make a little 
pie all by myself. And there’s enough 
dough so you can make one, too ! Come 
on over!” 

“Oh, that will be fun!” cried Dorothy, 
and, forgetting for a moment all about her 
Sawdust Doll and the new gingham dress, 
up jumped Dorothy and away she ran with 
Mirabell, leaving the pieces of cloth, rags, 


86 STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL 


rag-bag, Doll and everything on the floor. 

When Martha, the maid, came in a little 
later and saw the pile in confusion on the 
floor, she just bundled everything up to- 
gether — new gingham dress, rags, Doll, 
and all — and stuffed them into the rag- 
bag. 

“Dorothy forgot to pick up her play- 
things,” thought the maid, as she stuffed 
the odd pieces of cloth into the rag-bag. 
“I’ll do it for her.” 

And the maid never knew that she had 
also put the Sawdust Doll into the rag- 
bag. 


CHAPTER Yin 


IN THE JUNK SHOP 

“Dear me!” exclaimed the Sawdust Doll 
to herself, as she felt that she was being 
stuffed into the rag-bag. 6 6 Dear me ! This 
is dreadful! What sort of an adventure 
am I going to have now?” 

The maid carried the rag-bag to the cel- 
lar, where there was a much larger bag, 
containing more rags, pieces of old car- 
pet and other trash. 

“It is nearly time Patrick sold the 
rags,” said the maid, as she emptied the 
contents of the small rag-bag into the 
larger one. The small rag-bag was kept 
in the sewing-room, where odds and ends 
87 


88 STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL 


were put into it day by day until it was 
filled. Then it was emptied into the larger 
bag down in the cellar, and, when that was 
full, it was sold to the junk man. Patrick, 
the gardener, usually attended to this, and 
he divided the money he got from selling 
the rags with Martha, the maid, who emp- 
tied the smaller bag. 

“I must tell Patrick to sell the rags to 
the first junk man he sees,” said Martha 
to herself, as she emptied the small bag, 
Sawdust Doll and all, into the larger bag 
in the cellar. 

The poor Sawdust Doll was tumbled out 
from one bag to the other in the midst of 
bundles of cloth, and the poor thing dared 
not say a word, or try to get out, for if she 
had Martha, the maid, would have seen 
her, and that isn’t allowed, you know. 

“Patrick! Patrick!” called Martha to 
the gardener, as he was putting up a 


IN THE JIJNK SHOP 


89 


clothes line in the yard, for the laundress 
was washing out the napkins the children 
had used at the little girl’s birthday party. 
“Oh, Patrick!” called Martha. 

“Yes, yes ! What is it ?” asked the gar- 
dener, as he finished tying the line to the 
clothes post. 

“You’d better sell the rags to the first 
junk man that comes along,” answered 
Martha. “I just emptied some more into 
the big bag, and there’s quite a lot now. 
The bag is nearly full.” 

“All right, I’ll sell ’em!” Patrick called 
back. 

And a little while after that, before Dor- 
othy had come home from Mirabell’s house 
where she had gone to help make a little 
pie, the jingling- jangling bells on a junk 
wagon were heard out in the street. 

“Hi there ! Hi there !” called Patrick, 
who, having finished tying the clothes line, 


90 STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL 

was out in the garage. “Hi there, junk 
man ! Come here ! I have some rags to 
sell you!” 

“And I want to buy rags,” answered 
the junk man. 

He came in with his own big bag, and 
into that all the rags from the bag in the 
cellar were emptied. And nobody saw the 
Sawdust Doll tumbled out, in the midst 
of the rags, from one bag to the other. 
Patrick did not see the Sawdust Doll, nor 
did Martha, the maid, nor the junk man. 
He thought he was just buying rags — not 
a Sawdust Doll. 

The rags were weighed, paid for, and 
tossed into the junk man’s wagon. Then 
he drove off with them — drove off with the 
Sawdust Doll in the middle of his old bag 
of rags, and he didn’t know a thing about 
it! 

But the Sawdust Doll, herself, very well 


IN THE JUNK SHOP 91 

knew that something strange was happen- 
ing to her. 

“ Oh, dear ! ? ’ she sighed. 6 ‘ I don ’t know 
whether I like this adventure or not! I 
wonder what will happen next!” 

Away rattled the junk wagon, the 
ragged man on the seat calling from time 
to time : 

“ Any rags? Any bottles? Any old 
clothes?” 

He bought almost anything, did that 
junk man, but he never before, that he 
knew of, had bought a Sawdust Doll. 

When Dorothy came back from the 
house next door, after having helped Mira- 
bell bake a little pie, the first thing she 
thought of was her Sawdust Doll. 

“I must finish making her gingham 
dress,” thought the little girl. But when 
she hurried to the playroom and saw noth- 
ing of the pile of rags she had left there, 


92 STORY OP A SAWDUST DOLL 


with her thimble and needle on a table 
near by, and when she saw nothing of her 
doll, the little girl cried: 

“Oh, where is she? Where is she?” 

“Where is who, my dear?” asked 
Mother. 

“My Sawdust Doll,” answered Doro- 
thy, and tears began to gather in her eyes. 
“I left her here asleep on a pile of rags 
while I went to Mirabell’s house. Now 
she’s gone! My Sawdust Doll is gone! 
Oh, maybe Carlo carried her off again!” 

“If he did we shall soon find her,” an- 
swered Mother. “ I ’ll help you look. ’ ’ 

But Carlo was not around, and, a little 
later, when Dick came in, he said the dog 
had been down the street, playing with 
him. 

“Carlo didn’t take your doll, I know 
that,” said Dick. 

“But who did?” asked Dorothy. “I 


IN THE JUNK SHOP 


93 


left her right near the little rag-bag, after 
I got some pieces from it to make her a 
gingham dress.” 

It did not take long to find out what had 
happened. When Martha, the maid, heard 
Dorothy asking about the small rag-bag 
and the pile of goods that had been on the 
playroom floor, the maid exclaimed : 

“Oh, I picked them up! I picked up 
the rags, put them in the little rag-bag, 
and emptied them into the big bag in the 
cellar. I must have picked up the Saw- 
dust Doll, too, though I didn’t notice 
her.” 

“Well, she must be down in the cellar 
bag, then,” said Mother. “Don’t worry, 
Dorothy. We’ll soon have your doll 
back.” 

But when Dorothy, Mother, and Martha 
went to the cellar they saw the big* bag 
limp and empty, hanging on a nail. 


94 STORY OP A SAWDUST DOLL 


* ‘ ‘ Oh, Patrick must have sold the rags ! ’ ’ 

said Martha. 

And when they asked Patrick about it, 
of course that was what he had done ; just 
as Martha had told him to do. 

“I’ll get her back!” cried Patrick. 
“I’ll keep watch, and when I see that junk 
man going past again I’ll get your doll 
back, Dorothy.” 

“Can’t you find him now?” asked the 
little girl. “I want my new Sawdust Doll 
awful much! Something is always hap- 
pening to her! First Carlo took her off 
to his kennel, then she got ice cream on 
her dress, and now a junk man has her! 
Oh, dear!” 

“ I ’ll get her back ! I ’ll get the Sawdust 
Doll back!” said Patrick, and he hurried 
out to the street, thinking perhaps the 
junk man might be just around the corner. 

But the junk man was not in sight. 


IN THE JUNK SHOP 


95 


With his wagon filled with rags and bun- 
dles of newspapers, with the Sawdust Doll 
all wrapped up in pieces of cloth in one 
of his bags, the junk man was far away. 

All day long the junk man drove through 
different streets buying odds and ends, 
and, all this while, he never knew he had 
the Sawdust Doll. 

And poor Dorothy was crying her eyes 
out for her pet. She had other dolls, but 
she wanted, most of all, to have her birth- 
day present back again. 

At night the junk man drove to his shop, 
where he kept many piles of rags, bottles, 
old automobile tires and different things 
that he sold to other men. 

After supper the bag, in which was the 
Sawdust Doll, was brought from the wag- 
on into the junk shop, and emptied out on 
the floor. 

“Want to help me sort the rags, Tin- 


96 STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL 


ka ?” called the junk man to his little girl. 

“Oh, yes, I love to sort the rags,” Tin- 
ka answered. She was about as old as 
Dorothy, but she did not live in such a 
nice house. “I will sort the rags,” said 
Tinka. “If I find a pretty one, may I 
have a piece for a hair-ribbon?” 

“Yes,” answered her father, and he and 
Tinka began sorting over the rags to pick 
out the silk and woolen ones from the linen 
and cotton. 

Suddenly Tinka uttered a cry. 

“OK, look what I’ve found!” she ex- 
claimed. “A doll! A real doll! Oh, 
Papa! I have found a doll and she’s new! 
A doll with a pink dress!” 

And Tinka held up the Sawdust Doll! 


CHAPTER IX 


A HAPPY VISIT 

The junk man dropped a bundle of rags 
be was sorting and came around to the side 
of the table where Tinka stood with the 
Sawdust Doll in her arms. The little girl 
was crooning to the Doll a lullaby that was 
sung in ancient times by an ancient people. 

“Let me see the Sawdust Doll, Tinka!’’ 
said the junk man. 

“Oh, but, Papa, she is asleep, now,” said 
Tinka softly. 

“I will not wake her up,” and the junk 
man smiled at his little daughter. “I will 
be careful not to wake her up.” 

Then Tinka handed her father the Saw- 
07 


98 STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL 


dust Doll. The junk man turned her over 
and over in his hands, which were not very 
-clean. J unk men cannot keep their hands 
clean when they work any more than the 
coal man can. 

“Dear me!” thought the Sawdust Doll 
as she felt herself being turned over and 
over in the grimy hands of the junk man. 
“I hope he doesn’t soil my rose-colored 
silk dress any more than it is. But then 
I am going to have a new gingham one, 
anyhow. Oh, no ! How can I have the new 
gingham dress if I stay here in this junk 
shop?” thought the Sawdust Doll. 

You see, though Tinka made believe the 
Sawdust Doll was asleep, Dorothy’s pet 
was really awake, and knew what was go- 
ing on. Though, of course, the Sawdust 
Doll would not move or speak as long as 
Tinka and her father were looking on. 

“Yes,” said the junk man slowly, “this 


A HAPPY VISIT 


99 


is almost new. And yet she was in a bag 
of rags. There must be some mistake.” 

The junk man laid the Sawdust Doll on 
the table, and began thinking over in his 
mind the different houses he had called at 
that day to get bags of rags and bundles 
of papers. Tinka slowly came around 
from her side of the table, and gently 
picked up the Sawdust Doll again. 

“She is still asleep,” whispered the little 
girl. “But I will sing to her once more.” 

“Yes, sing, Tinka,” replied the junk 
man. ‘ * Sing to the Doll, and then we must 
put her away, for I shall take her back in 
the morning.” 

“Take her back! Oh, Papa! Are you 
going to take away the new Doll I found 
in the rags?” and tears came into Tinka ’s 
eyes. 

“Yes, little daughter, she is not our 
Doll,” sadly answered the junk man. “I 


100 STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL 


bought the rags, not the Doll. Some little 
girl owns her, and wants the Sawdust Doll 
as much as you do. It would not be right 
for us to keep her.” 

Tinka said nothing for a moment. She 
just held the Sawdust Doll in her arms and 
looked at her, and she looked at the pretty 
rose-^colored silk dress. And Tinka never 
saw the ice-cream spot on it. If she had 
seen it she would not have cared. 

“I must take the Doll back to-morrow,” 
said the junk man slowly. “I remember 
now where I bought the rags in which the 
Sawdust Doll must have fallen or been put 
by mistake. A gardener at a big house 
called me in and sold me the rags. He has 
sold me some before. In the morning, be- 
fore I go anywhere else, I will take the 
Sawdust Doll back.” 

“Oh, Papa !” exclaimed Tinka, and that 
was all she said, but she hugged the Saw- 


A HAPPY VISIT 


101 


dust Doll tightly in her arms. And when 
the junk man saw that he said: 

“You may hold the Doll until it is time 
for you to go to bed, Tinka. You may 
hold her and sing to her. I will sort the 
rags myself.” 

So Tinka sat down on a pile of old 
papers and rocked herself slowly to and 
fro, singing the old sweet lullaby to the 
Sawdust Doll. And the Sawdust Doll 
closed her eyes and seemed to go to sleep. 
But she was really awake, and she was 
thinking of many things. 

“This junk shop is not as nice a place 
as the home I had with Dorothy,” thought 
the Sawdust Doll. “But Tinka loves me, 
and, after all, that is what counts. If ever 
I see my old friends in the store, of what 
an adventure I shall be able to tell them ! 
Quite wonderful! How surprised the 
Bold Tin Soldier will be, and how the 


102 STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL 


Calico Clown will laugh when he hears I 
was in a rag-bag!” 

The junk man looked across the room 
and saw Tinka nodding sleepily. Gently 
he took the Sawdust Doll from her arms 
and laid the toy on a piece of paper up on 
the mantel. Then he carried Tinka to her 
own bed, and the little girl murmured in 
her sleep : 

“Oh, what a beautiful Sawdust Doll!” 

The junk man sighed. 

So the Sawdust Doll was laid by herself 
on the mantel, and she thought many 
thoughts as the night passed. She could 
have moved around if she had w T anted to, 
for no one was watching her now. 

“But what is the use?” she asked her- 
self. 6 6 There is no one here to play with — 
only bags of rags, bundles of paper, and 
such things as that. There is not even a 
broken Jack-in-the-Box for me to talk to. 


A HAPPY VISIT 103 

I shall sleep. In the morning I may have 
more adventures.” 

And very early the next morning, before 
Tinka was awake, the junk man drove off. 
And, on the seat beside him, wrapped in a 
paper, was the Sawdust Doll. 

“I certainly am getting more than my 
share of rides,” thought the Sawdust Doll. 
“I wonder what is going to happen now!" 

All the while the Sawdust Doll had been 
away on the junk-shop adventure, about 
which I have told you, poor Dorothy was 
almost heart-broken over the loss of her 
toy. 

“Do you think I’ll ever get her back?” 
she asked over and over again. 

“I hope you may get her back,” said 
Dorothy ’s mother. But really Mother had 
very little hope. 

“There are so many junk men, and they 
all seem to look alike,” she told Dorothy’s 


104 STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL 


father. “I don’t believe Patrick will find 
the one to whom he sold the bag of rags 
with the Sawdust Doll in it.” 

But Dorothy kept on hoping, and every 
time the bell rang she ran to the door, ex- 
pecting it was her Doll come back. But 
night came, and the Sawdust Doll was still 
missing. Dorothy cried herself to sleep. 

At last morning came, and Patrick, go- 
ing out to sweep off a light snow that had 
fallen in the night, saw a junk wagon stop- 
ping in front of the house. 

“Ha, there he is! There’s the man 
I sold the Sawdust Doll to!” cried the 
gardener. ‘ * There ’s the j unk man!” 

The junk man got down off his seat and 
started up the path with something in his 
hand. 

“Did you find ” began Patrick. 

“I bring her back!” broke in the rag- 
buyer. “My little girl, Tinka, found a 


A HAPPY VISIT 


105 


Sawdust Doll in the rags when she sorted 
them. I bring her back — the Doll.” 

‘ ‘ Well, thank goodness!” cried Patrick. 
“ Dorothy will be glad of this! Wait a 
minute, junk man!” he called back as he 
ran into the house. 

When Dorothy saw her Sawdust Doll 
the little girl clapped her hands in joy 
and cried : 

6 ‘ There she is ! There she is ! My Saw- 
dust Doll has come back, and with her 
same rosy silk dress. I don’t care if it 
has an ice-cream stain on it! I love 
her!” 

“Did the junk man bring the Doll 
back?” asked Dorothy’s mother, as the 
little girl held her toy in her arms. 

“Yes,” answered Patrick. “He’s out- 
side now.” 

“I’ll see him,” said Dorothy’s mother. 

.When she heard how Tinka had found 


106 STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL 


the Doll in the rags, and how she had 
wanted to keep the toy for herself, Doro- 
thy's mother said: 

“I think Dorothy will want to send Tin- 
ka a doll. Not the Sawdust Doll, for that 
is a birthday present. But I’ll find a doll 
for Tinka if you will take it to her. You 
will, please?” and she smiled at the junk 
man, who smiled and nodded in return. 

When she was told about the junk man’s 
little girl, Dorothy picked out one of her 
best dolls — the one Santa Claus had 
brought her the Christmas before — and 
took it out to the junk man. 

“That is for Tinka,” said Dorothy. 
“Please give it to her.” 

“Ah, Tinka will be happy!” said the 
man. “She will thank you a thousand 
times!” 

And when the junk man went home that 
night with a doll that Tinka could keep 


A HAPPY VISIT 107 

for her very own, the little girl, as she 
helped her father sort the rags, saic i 

“Oh., how happy I am! Now I have 
some one I can sing to sleep!” 

And she crooned a soft little lullaby to 
her own doll. 

And Dorothy had her Sawdust Doll 
back again. 

“And I’m never going to lay you down 
in a bundle of rags again, not even to bake 
a strawberry shortcake!” she said. “Oh, 
how happy I am ! ’ ’ 

One day Dorothy’s mother said to her: 

“I am going shopping again. Do you 
want to come?” 

“Oh, yes. And may I take my Sawdust 
Doll?” asked the little girl. Her mother 
said she might, and they set off. 

By this time Dorothy, with the help of 
Martha, the maid, had made a new blue 
dress for the Sawdust Doll. It was of 


108 STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL 


muslin, and would wash, so that even if 
ice cream dropped on it not much harm 
would be done. 

“Are you going to get me the White 
Rocking Horse?’’ asked Dorothy’s broth- 
er, when he saw his mother and sister go- 
ing out shopping. 

“I’ll see,” was all the answer given him, 
but, somehow, because of the way his 
mother smiled, Dick felt happy. 

So Dorothy and her mother went back 
to the same store where the Sawdust Doll 
had been purchased. Up they went in the 
elevator to the toy department. 

And there the Sawdust Doll saw her old 
friends. There stood the Lamb on Wheels, 
as woolly and kinky as ever. And the 
Bold Tin Soldier, at the head of his men, 
was ready to drive away any rats that 
might scurry out of their holes. The Cali- 
co Clown almost seemed to be whispering 


A HAPPY VISIT 109 

to the Monkey on a Stick, and the Candy 
Rabbit was looking down at the White 
Rocking Horse. 

“Oh, everything is just as I left it!” 
thought the Sawdust Doll. “How I wish 
I could talk to my friends ! But we dare 
not speak or move by ourselves as long as 
any one is watching. However, I am 
happy just to visit my friends again!” 

And as Dorothy held the Sawdust Doll 
in her arms, and as Mother looked about 
the store, suddenly a loud noise sounded 
off to one side of the toy department. 
There was some shouting, and Dorothy 
dropped her doll on the floor and ran, with 
her mother, to see what was the matter. 


CHAPTER X 


“oh, dear me!” 

When Dorothy hurried away with her 
fhother to see what all the noise and shout- 
ing was about, the little girl, as I told you, 
dropped her Sawdust Doll on the floor. 
But, luckily, the Doll fell on a footstool 
that had been left near the White Rocking 
Horse so little boys would find it easy to 
climb up on his back. The stool was soft, 
and the Sawdust Doll was not hurt in the 
least, though a bit shaken up. 

And as Dorothy and her mother hurried 
out of the toy department, so did the other 
shoppers and the clerks, so that the place 
was left all to itself for a few minutes. 


ZIO 


“OH, DEAR ME!” 


Ill 


“Oh, now we have a chance to talk!” 
exclaimed the Monkey on a Stick. “Dear 
Sawdust Doll, how glad we all are to see 
you again ! Tell us where you have been 
and what has happened to you. Have you 
had any adventures?” 

“Adventures!” exclaimed the Sawdust 
Doll, as she sat up on the footstool, for 
there were no prying eyes to watch the 
toys now, and they could do as they 
pleased. “Adventures? I should say I 
have had them ! It has been nothing but 
adventures since I left here.” 

“Oh, tell us about them!” begged £he 
Calico Clown. ‘ 6 W ere they funny ones ? ’ y 
“Some were, and some were not,” an- 
swered the Sawdust Doll, and she told 
everything that had happened to her from 
the time she left the store until she had 
come back on this visit. 

“Just fancy!” cried the Bold Tin Sol- 


112 STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL 


dier. “Being in a junk shop! If I had 
been there I would have cut a way for you 
out of the bag with my sword !” he said. 

“Thank you,” said the Sawdust Doll. 
“But, after all, everything came out all 
right as it was. I am back with Dorothy 
again, and happy.” 

“I wonder what all the excitement is 
about,” said the White Rocking Horse, 
as he rocked to and fro. 

“Oh, it’s just a man doing some magi- 
cal tricks to amuse the children,” said the 
Monkey on a Stick. “I can see him from 
here. He comes every year at Christmas 
time to make it jolly for the children.” 

“Now tell me some news!” begged the* 
Sawdust Doll. “What has happened here 
since I went away?” and she softly patted 
the wool of the Lamb on Wheels. “Have 
you had any adventures ?” 

“Not many,” answered the Calico 


“OH, DEAR ME!” 


113 


Clown. “We have just been waiting for 
some one to buy us and take us away, as 
you were taken away. ’ 9 

“I was almost sold yesterday,” said the 
White Rocking Horse. “But the boy who 
got on my back to try me kicked me with 
his heels and scratched some of my paint. 
I was glad when his father said he guessed 
he would buy the boy a bicycle instead of 
me. I wouldn’t want that kind of master 
— one who would kick you with his heels.” 

“No, indeed!” said the Sawdust Doll. 
“My Dorothy is as kind as she can be.” 

“I have thought up a new joke since 
you went away,” cried the Calico Clown. 

“ It ’s a riddle. Why does a bean bag 9 9 

“Hush!” suddenly called the White 
Rocking Horse. “To your places, every 
one ! Here come the People !” 

And as Dorothy and her mother re- 
turned from having gone to see the magi- 


114 STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL 


cian take things out of a hat, the Sawdust 
Doll and the other toys were as quiet and 
motionless as if they had never moved or 
spoken. 

4 ‘ Oh, look, Mother ! ’ ’ cried Dorothy. 4 6 1 
dropped my Sawdust Doll on this cushion 
and she’s right here yet!” 

Dorothy held her Sawdust Doll in her 
arms, and the little girl never knew of the 
happy little visit her play toy had had with 
the old friends. 

“How much is this White Rocking 
Horse?” asked Dorothy’s mother of the 
clerk behind the counter. And when she 
had been told the price Mother smiled and 
said: “I must send Daddy to look at it. 
This is just the kind Dick wants.” 

When the shopping was finished the 
little girl went down in the elevator with 
her mother. The Calico Clown and the 
Bold Tin Soldier, as well as the other toys, 



Dorothy’s Father Fixes the Sawdust Doll 

Page 118 







































































V 






























“OH, DEAR ME!” 


115 


wished they might call out a “good-bye” to 
the Sawdust Doll as they saw her being 
carried away. And they wished they 
might tell her to come again. But they did 
not dare, with all the people around. 

One day when it was snowing so hard 
that Dorothy and her brother could not go 
out to play, Dick climbed into a rocking 
chair in the middle of the playroom floor. 

“I’m going to make believe this is a 
rocking horse,” he said. “I’m going to 
take a long ride,” and he swayed to and 
fro. “Do you want to ride with me, Dor- 
othy?” he asked. 

“Thank you, no. I am going to make 
a new dress for my Sawdust Doll,” was 
the answer. “I’ll leave her here a minute 
till I get some thread.” 

Dorothy, leaving her doll down on the 
floor, went to the sewing-room, where her 
mother and Martha, the maid, were busy. 


116 STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL 


Dick began to sway backward and for- 
ward in the rocking chair. 

“Gid-dap!” cried the boy. “Go fast, 
Rocking Horse !” 

Then, all of a sudden, the chair swung 
to one side and one of the rockers went 
right over the Sawdust Doll. It tore a 
hole in her back and the sawdust began to 
run out. 

“Oh, my!” cried Dick, when he saw the 
accident. “Oh, what will Dorothy say? 
Oh, I’m sorry!” 

He got down off the chair and looked at 
the Doll on the floor. A little stream 
of sawdust was running out over the 
carpet. 

“Oh, dear me!” cried Dorothy, when 
she came back and saw what had hap- 
pened. “Oh, dear me! Oh, Mother! Dick 
has run over my Sawdust Doll and she’s 
bleeding ! Oh, dear me!” 


“OH, DEAR ME!” 


117 


She picked up her toy. The sawdust 
kept on running out, and the doll became 
very limp in Dorothy’s hands. 

“Oh, my Sawdust Doll has fainted!” 
she cried. “What shall I do?” 

Mother came running in to see what the 
matter was. And, noticing the sawdust 
running out of the Doll, she exclaimed : 

“Hold your hand over the hole, Doro- 
thy ! That will keep the sawdust in ! ” 

“Oh, but my doll is spoiled!” sobbed the 
little girl. 6 6 What made you run over her, 
Dick, with your rocking-chair horse?” 

“I — I didn’t mean to,” said Brother 
Dick. “I’m sorry ! ’ ’ 

“Ch, my Sawdust Doll will die!” cried 
Dorothy. 

But Daddy came in just then, and when 
he saw what the trouble was he said : 

“We’ll fix your doll, Dorothy. Don’t 
cry. We can make her well again.” 


118 STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL 


“How?” asked the little girl. 

“Ill get some new sawdust for her from 
the carpenter shop around the corner,” 
was the answer. “You get a needle and 
thread, Mother, and I’ll go after the saw- 
dust.” 

Dorothy dried her tears and watched 
while her mother got ready a needle, with 
a long thread, and her thimble. By that 
time Daddy had come back with something 
in a bag. 

“Here is plenty of sawdust for the doll 
that fainted, Dorothy,” he said with a 
jolly laugh. 

Through the hole made in the cloth by 
the rocking chair, the new sawdust from 
the carpenter shop was stuffed into the 
Doll. Then Mother sewed her up. 

“And I’ll give you a ride on my make- 
believe rocking horse, ’ ’ said Dick. 6 6 Come 
on, Dorothy!” 


“OH, DEAR ME!” 


119 


“All right,” answered the little girl. 
“Ill wait until to-morrow about making 
Dollie another dress.” 

She climbed up into the chair with her 
brother, holding her toy in her arms. 

“Dear me!” thought the Sawdust Doll, 
“my adventures seem to keep up. Just 
fancy fainting because of an accident! 
How I should like to tell the Calico Clown 
and the Bold Tin Soldier about it. I 
don’t believe either of them ever fainted 
away.” 

And as Dick and Dorothy and the Saw- 
dust Doll rode on the rocking-chair horse, 
the little boy asked his father : 

“Do you think, Daddy, 111 ever have a 
real rocking horse?” 

“Well, I shouldn’t b’e surprised if you 
did, ’ ’ was the answer. 6 6 What kind would 
you like?” 

‘ ‘ A white one, ’ ’ the boy answered. 4 ‘ J ust 


120 STORY OP A SAWDUST DOLL 


like the one I saw in the store where Doro- 
thy’s Sawdust Doll was bought.” 

“We’ll see,” promised Daddy. 

And whether the little boy got his wish 
you may find out in the book that comes 
after this. It is called “The Story of a 
White Rocking Horse,” and it tells about 
the many adventures he had. 

As for the Sawdust Doll, she lived with 
Dorothy f^r a number of years, and you 
may be sure many things happened to her 
— more than I have room to tell of in this 
book. 

So I will say good-bye now, but I 
shouldn’t be a bit surprised if you heard 
something more about the Sawdust Doll, 
as well as about the White Rocking Horse. 


THE END 











